Western Movie Rambles

[rohanaka]

VIVA Las chinchillas!!!!! HA!

[MissGoddess]

> {quote:title=FrankGrimes wrote:}{quote}

> You have friends?

 

Personal attack!

[JackFavell]

I just re-watched *One Eyed Jacks* last night. This was actually one of my favorite westerns before I liked westerns.

 

It's a bit long but the story is interesting, the Monterey landscapes and sets are gorgeous, and the acting is very, very good. I still think it was a pretty sharp western in spite of all the bad press it has gotten for Brando's supposedly self-indulgent directing. I don't know if someone took over for him after, but it was edited well, and moved along very clearly. There is no problem following the plot or understanding what is going on - in fact, it drew me in despite it's sometimes leisurely pace.

 

*SPOILERS SPOILERS*

 

The story is basically along the same lines of *Nevada Smith* - a quest to avenge a wrong. But the plus in this one is that there is only one character that our hero is after, and to watch him methodically go about destroying that squirmy enemy is kind of enjoyable.

 

Brando takes his time - letting us know that the hero, played by himself, starts as a bad man.... Rio robs banks, he seduces unsuspecting good girls.... but it is all done in a youthful and good natured way. Later, after five years in prison, he will not be so good natured.

 

Rio and his mentor/best friend, Dad Longworth (Karl Malden) are trapped on a cliff after a bank job gone wrong. (It's a beautifully shot scene, with sand blowing and snaking across the flat top of the cliff.) Rio trusts Dad to go for fresh horses while he holds off the posse. Dad never returns, taking the money with him, and Rio is sent to a hellish prison for five years.

 

The movie really takes off after Rio makes his escape from Sonora prison with Chico Modesto, who will become the truest friend he ever has. Rio spends his new found freedom looking for Dad. He picks up a couple of nasty characters along the way (Ben Johnson and Sam Gilman), who promise to help Rio find Dad if he will take part in a robbery with them. When he catches up to Dad, it turns out Longworth has become a family man and respected citizen of his town, and has even been elected sheriff. This suits Rio just fine, because taking the bank there will reflect badly on Longworth, and will also give him a chance to kill him.

 

Before the robbery, Rio goes to visit Dad, to give him a chance to explain. Dad is extremely nervous, knowing he has wronged Rio... and proceeds to lie to Rio, telling him there was no way he could have gone back to help him, because there were no horses. Rio knows this to be a baldfaced lie, having seen the horses when he was dragged off to prison. Rio pretends to know nothing about Dad's betrayal of him, and Dad, relieved, invites him to stay to dinner. Rio insinuates himself into the good graces of Dad's adopted daughter, played beautifully by Pina Pellicer. Her mother, Dad's wife (Katy Jurado), senses that something is not right between Dad and Rio, but says nothing.

 

Rio finds out that the bank will not be open the next day due to a small town festival. He courts the daughter, Louisa, all that day and when night falls, takes her to the beach where he tells her he loves her .......and seduces her. In the morning, Rio does something he has never done before. He tells the girl that he lied to her, and she sadly gives back the necklace he had presented to her as his mother's. Rio feels bad about having taken advantage of her, even though it was part of his revenge plot. He begins to have feelings for the open hearted girl.

 

Louisa's mother, upset that Rio and the girl are missing, confronts Dad, and begs him to go and find Louisa, but Dad gets drunk instead... enjoying his position of esteem in the town. Louisa finally comes home and later reveals that she is pregnant with Rio's child. When Longworth finds out, he becomes enraged, especially when his wife asks him not to harm Rio. His true colors show, and he berates her, telling her she was just a poor dance hall girl when he found her. She sees him for what he truly is. Rio's plan of revenge is starting to work, in spite of his feelings for the girl.

 

When Rio goes back into town, he confronts another sick character (Timothy Carey in a truly frightening performance) molesting a woman in a bar, and kills him. Dad, eager to simply get rid of him because of their past, takes Rio's gun, flogs him in public, making a big spectacle of how "bad" Rio is, and then smashes Rio's gun hand with the butt of a shotgun. Rio leaves town supposedly destroyed by Dad's cruel treatment. How he works his way back is the rest of the movie.

 

Much more happens, but I cannot go into detail without huge spoilers so I will simply say that I really like this movie. There are many gradations of evil but the worst evil is hypocrisy. There are a lot of mean spirited characters, who do things for seemingly no other reason except that they can, but they are as nothing compared to the one who stabs you in the back with a smile on his face. If he does it with the power of the law behind him, it is even worse. The bad guys are all over the place, you can't walk a step in this corrupt and hypocritical society without running into one of them.Those in power are the worst. Those who profess loudest to be your friends are your enemies, and the sheriff himself is the biggest hypocrite of all.... his downfall is worth waiting for.

 

I enjoyed Brando's performance a lot, and I love the way he calls Slim Pickens "You gob of spit". Brando is fun to watch, almost funny, but turning deadly serious on a dime.... there is a lot for him to rebel against in this film. This movie was made about the halfway point between the communist witch hunts of the fifties, and the hippie movement of the sixties. Like *Cool Hand Luke*, it seems to comment on or even presage the angst of the time. It rips into the themes of hypocrisy and prejudice on a lot of levels. Rio is sort of like the first hippie. A hippie with a gun and a bone to pick....

 

The casting is genius, and I really admire the way that the Mexican characters are fully rounded and sympathetically portrayed. Katy Jurado is wonderful, strong and subdued, but quietly aware that her man is not all he seems to be. Larry Duran is marvelously relaxed and decent as Chico, Rio's only friend. He is the perfect sidekick, helping Rio after his hand is damaged, telling him the truth of the situation, but backing him up when he needs it.

 

I always like a movie that has more than one baddie....and the best part of this movie are the villains. Slim Pickens gives Henry Jones a run for his money as the Longworth lackey and jailer, Lon Dedrick.....he IS a gob of spit, lascivious, fat and foolish... I am sure this is one of the movies that *Blazing Saddles* was parodying when they cast Pickens. As I've already said, Timothy Carey is so awful and psychopathic you wish he were killed sooner. Sam Gilman plays Will Johnson, the big-mouth outlaw who has to back down when confronted with Rio's superior gunslinging skills. And Ben Johnson...... my beloved Ben..... is as nasty a piece of work as I've ever seen. He plays Bob Emery, a prejudiced plotter and a conniver, bent on robbing the bank in town. He's just as eager to watch his friend Will get his head blown off by Rio as he is to rob the bank, and he would laugh about it later. When the bank job is put on hold, Emery gets mighty irritated and antsy, simmering in his anger and prejudice. You can tell this guy is gonna go off .... and you couldn't trust him as far as you could throw him. When I saw this movie for the first time, before I knew who Ben Johnson was, I can't tell you how much I hated him! He's remarkably black, there is no other word for him but nasty.... he enjoys his meanness, savoring it. I imagine this is what a real life western bank robber might have been like - hard as nails.

 

And then, of course, there is Karl Malden. He is oily, sly, and somehow, kind of weak. You see his eyes dart around gleefully as he thinks he is outsmarting Rio over and over again.....and because he has the power of the town at his fingertips, he is able to become a formidable enemy to Rio. He really enjoys pulling the wool over everyone's eyes. But his lies and hypocrisy are a false front that begin to crumble as soon as Rio shows up. He is eventually shown to be a morally weak and shallow man.

 

I am not a big Malden fan, but in this movie, he really does the job. His decision to lie at each turn of events shows well in his face.... it is the face of a hypocrite - willing to play lawman, all the time having no clue what law or a code of honor really is. I think he is the face of all the scared, weak willed people who ratted on their friends during the communist witch hunt. The ones who knew they were doing wrong, but were too frightened to speak up in defense of their friends.... and maybe even walked over them to gain a little social standing......

 

Message was edited by: JackFavell

 

Message was edited by: JackFavell for clarity

[MissGoddess]

Hi MissFavell!

 

This was actually one of my favorite westerns before I liked westerns

 

Oh my goodness, I'm going to sound like your "echo" again, but I loved this

western as a kid/teen. It made me have a (brief) crush on Marlon Brando. I

loved the story between him and Katy's daughter, though I never thought the

poor thing was a very good actress. He really had an affair with her, I've read.

Anyway, Karl and Chill Wills are really the worst, as you say. I really don't

remember Ben at all, it's been several years since I watched it.

[JackFavell]

> {quote:title=MissGoddess wrote:}{quote}

> Hi MissFavell!

>

> This was actually one of my favorite westerns before I liked westerns

>

> Oh my goodness, I'm going to sound like your "echo" again, but I loved this

> western as a kid/teen. It made me have a (brief) crush on Marlon Brando. I

> loved the story between him and Katy's daughter, though I never thought the

> poor thing was a very good actress.

 

I couldn't decide whether she was brilliant, or terrible! I liked the way she was so earnest in her pronunciation. Anyway, it worked for me.

 

>He really had an affair with her, I've read.

 

Didn't he have affairs with pretty much everyone?

 

>I really don't remember Ben at all, it's been several years since I watched it.

 

I am embarrassed to say I didn't remember him either until I started watching again, and then it hit me - wham! He was the one who did something really really despicable..... I have read a lot of people's opinions of Ben's acting, some say he's limited, but damn, he was good. What an evil cuss he was!

[MissGoddess]

> Didn't he have affairs with pretty much everyone?

>

 

Ha!! I know, why did I have to even point it out.

 

>

> I am embarrassed to say I didn't remember him either until I started watching again, and then it hit me - wham! He was the one who did something really really despicable..... I have read a lot of people's opinions of Ben's acting, some say he's limited, but damn, he was good. What an evil cuss he was!

 

I'll have to watch it again one day, just to look for Ben.

 

"Limited"? That just shows how limited the point of view is. They say

John Wayne was "limited", too. Okay....I guess being Limited is the way

to become a legend, then.

[JackFavell]

"Limited"? That just shows how limited the point of view is. They say

John Wayne was "limited", too. Okay....I guess being Limited is the way

to become a legend, then.

 

Thanks for that. That sentence really rubbed me the wrong way when I read it too.....

 

I forgot to mention before that Hank Worden was in One Eyed Jacks as well, I guess he played the doctor who looks at Rio's hand.... but I did not notice him... maybe because he wasn't playing his usual crazy hit-in-the-head-with-a-mule type....

 

Also Elisha Cook, Jr. as a soon to be offed bank clerk.....

 

Message was edited by: JackFavell

[MissGoddess]

>

> Also Elisha Cook, Jr. as a soon to be offed bank clerk.....

>

 

That was his specialty, poor guy!

[JackFavell]

He di it so well..... chuckle.

 

In this one he bears the distinction of taking someone out with him when he goes........

[movieman1957]

Pardon The Interruption but....

 

I loaned a friend of mine a copy of "Shane." He didn't like it. (I was stunned.) I am going to loan him "The Searchers." I told him if he doesn't like that one then I am taking away his Westerns Lovers card.

 

Carry on.

[MissGoddess]

> {quote:title=movieman1957 wrote:}{quote}

> Pardon The Interruption but....

>

> I loaned a friend of mine a copy of "Shane." He didn't like it. (I was stunned.) I am going to loan him "The Searchers." I told him if he doesn't like that one then I am taking away his Westerns Lovers card.

>

> Carry on.

 

I tell you, Chris, you need stop trying to convert FrankGrimes. Face it! He has _no_ taste.

[HollywoodGolightly]

> {quote:title=movieman1957 wrote:}{quote}

> Pardon The Interruption but....

>

> I loaned a friend of mine a copy of "Shane." He didn't like it. (I was stunned.) I am going to loan him "The Searchers." I told him if he doesn't like that one then I am taking away his Westerns Lovers card.

>

> Carry on.

 

It's hard to believe, but maybe The Searchers will be more like his idea of a good western.

[JackFavell]

> {quote:title=movieman1957 wrote:}{quote}

> Pardon The Interruption but....

>

> I loaned a friend of mine a copy of "Shane." He didn't like it. (I was stunned.) I am going to loan him "The Searchers." I told him if he doesn't like that one then I am taking away his Westerns Lovers card.

 

Or better yet, shoot him.

 

Why didn't he like Shane? Any particular reasons?

[movieman1957]

We haven't had time to really get into it but it mostly revolves around the plot. He did mention not quite getting who was who and why they were so adamant about things and then taking a long time to get it all done. I keep thinking he must have been distracted. I want to, at some point, have him go through here and read all the discussion we had and maybe it will help him get a better appreciation for it. We'll see.

 

I may need to borrow Quiet Gal's rope if she isn't using it.

 

Updates as they happen...

[HollywoodGolightly]

I didn't exactly love Shane the first time I watched it, but I didn't dislike it, either. It's one of those movies that in some cases really takes a while to be fully appreciated. Too bad your friend won't join our rambles.

[movieman1957]

It's not that he won't he just hasn't been properly introduced. I hope to fix that when they get back from vacation.

[HollywoodGolightly]

> {quote:title=movieman1957 wrote:}{quote}

> It's not that he won't he just hasn't been properly introduced. I hope to fix that when they get back from vacation.

 

Well that might be a step in the right direction. To be perfectly honest, The Searchers is another movie that I really didn't fully appreciate when I first watched it, in large part because I wasn't really aware of what a big deal miscegenation for audiences back in the 50s.

 

With a lot of Ford and Hawks, it is largely thanks to all the things I've read in these forums that I am able to more fully appreciate their movies. The more rambles I read about directors like them, the more I dig their movies.

[rohanaka]

Howdy there my little OKLAHOMA KID!! :-)

 

Mighty interesting ramble on OEJ... that is one I have not seen (or even heard of) before. I am not usually a Brando kinda gal... but I may have to check it out.

 

PS... Chris... re: borrowing my rope.... ANYTIME sir. I have a LARGE supply to choose from... do you want REGULAR or EXTRA FROZEN??? :-)

[JackFavell]

Hey there, Ms. Rope-slinger..... Howdy doo?

 

I like Brando. He's kinda nutty, but he gets er done.

 

Some things I found out since I posted my OP:

 

Hank Worden did not play the doctor. He played "Doc", Rio and Dad's partner who is killed as they flee the first bank robbery.

 

Philip Ahn and Rudolfo Acosta are also in the movie.

 

The original script was by *Rod Serling*, but the producer, Frank J. Rosenberg, was not happy with it and brought in *Sam Peckinpah* to help fix it. Then *Stanley Kubrick* was hired to direct the film, and he fired Peckinpah and brought in Calder Willingham to work on it. He was finally dumped in favor of Guy Trosper. Kubrick was fired and Brando ended up directing. I swear I can see Peckinpah's viewpoint in this movie.... I read that Peckinpah's *Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid* covers much of the same territory as this film....

 

Lzcutter? Are you out there? Any thoughts?

 

One of my favorite characters is the redheaded girl at the bar, when Brando has his first meeting with Sam Gilman and Ben Johnson.... I love the way she keeps smiling phonily and pinching her customers cheeks when they get antsy waiting for her to stop talking to Brando... the actress is *Miriam Colon*, who later played Mercedes Cruz in *Lone Star* !

 

Sorry to just jump in with OEJ, guys, but I am just killing time until *Hondo* comes in the mail.....

[rohanaka]

Sorry to just jump in with OEJ, guys

 

Hey.. that is what makes a "Rambles" thread a "Rambles" thread. :-)

 

I hope some of the others who may have seen this one will chime in as well, because you have really piqued my interest with THIS comment:

 

The original script was by Rod Serling

 

I get more and more suprised when I hear his named mentioned in "out of the ZONE" productions.. ha. But I mean that in a good way... ha. (I wonder how much of his original script was left by the time the various changes got done w/ the writing and directing etc)

 

but I am just killing time until Hondo comes in the mail

 

I am looking forward to the chat on that one too... but in the meantime.... RAMBLE on! :-)

[JackFavell]

Kathy, tonight it's my turn to be alone on the mountaintop...

 

I hear the chirrup of crickets..... anyone out there...... out there..... there......

 

_Anyone_ see OEJ?

 

I feel like I can see the influence of Serling, too... the storyline is fairly tight, and the way each of the plot lines ties together with the others is pleasing....

 

"One Eyed Jacks" refers to the Jack face card in a deck of playing cards.... the Jack only shows one side of it's face as it sits on the table. The other side is hidden. As Rio says to Dad:

 

>"You may be a one eyed jack around here, but I've seen the other side of your face."

 

In fact, one of the great pleasures of the movie is the script. There is a lot of colorful language, mostly in the form of threats. After Rio has his hand crushed by Dad, Bob Amory the bank robber has this exchange with him. Rio's been practicing pulling his gun:

 

>Bob: " It's been six weeks. That hand ain't gettin' no better. I say we lay for Longworth with shotguns and then go rob that bank."

 

>Rio: "Ambushin' folks ain't exactly my style, Bob."

 

>Bob: "I'd say your style's gettin' a bit slow. We brought you along because you're supposed to be the big man with the iron; but now, I think I could even out pull you."

 

>Rio: (putting his hand on his gun) "You're probably right, Bob. You probably could get six into me by the time I get that one into you."

[MissGoddess]

> {quote:title=JackFavell wrote:}{quote}

> Kathy, tonight it's my turn to be alone on the mountaintop...

>

> I hear the chirrup of crickets..... anyone out there...... out there..... there......

>

 

I guess i'm the only one and it's been SO LONG that I really don't

remember too many specific scenes---in fact, I only remember scenes

with Katy and the daughter and a scene in the jail---I think it's when

he breaks out of jail---he does, right?

 

Like I said, it made quite an impression on me---I wasn't necessarily a

"huge" fan of westerns as a teen but this one and THE FAR COUNTRY really

stood out for me. And One Eyed Jacks along with Sayonara are

the only movies in which I found Brando personally attractive.

 

I will watch it again the next time it airs, I need a "refresher".

[MissGoddess]

>

> I hear the chirrup of crickets..... anyone out there...... out there..... there......

>

 

 

 

 

I almost posted this picture you-know-where, but didn't want to rock the boat YET,

besides, it's more appropriate here:

[JackFavell]

> I guess i'm the only one and it's been SO LONG that I really don't

> remember too many specific scenes---in fact, I only remember scenes

> with Katy and the daughter and a scene in the jail---I think it's when

> he breaks out of jail---he does, right?

 

Yes, he breaks out by taking a strap off of his cot, and roping the table with the keys on it . He pulls it over to the door of the cell.....then there is one of the best scenes with the cowardly Slim Pickens begging him, "Don't kill me, don't kill me.... " as he trips him to the ground, just as Pickens tripped him before.

 

> Like I said, it made quite an impression on me---I wasn't necessarily a

> "huge" fan of westerns as a teen but this one and THE FAR COUNTRY really

> stood out for me. And One Eyed Jacks along with Sayonara are

> the only movies in which I found Brando personally attractive.

 

I never really thought of Brando as attractive either. But this movie had a nice romantic story, and those gorgeous waves crashing in the background. I actually fell in love with Monterey when I saw it the first time. Those crazy wind swept trees on the edge of the cliffs, and the beach below.... WOW! And of course, as a baddie, my Ben has that devilish eyebrow going on.... Brando is no match....

[JackFavell]

>

>

>

> I almost posted this picture you-know-where, but didn't want to rock the boat YET,

> besides, it's more appropriate here:

 

Hoo boy.... is that ever appropriate.....